British Family

Welcome to the most celebrated patisserie competition in Paris – ready, steady, bake! Watching snowflakes settle on the Eiffel Tower, Rachel Smithson’s cosy English village feels very far way – as, thankfully, does her commitment-phobic ex, probably already kissing someone else under the...

"Royal Family, News Headlines and True Crime: Britain in the 20th Century" is a book in the series "Bitesize Britain". The book will take listeners on a unique voyage through time, offering bite sized chunks of social history helping the listener gain an understanding and appreciation of the key events that shaped Britain.

As the celebrated author of Akenfield, Ronald Blythe, turns 100 this year, Next to Nature brings together a seasonal collection from the very best of a lifetime of writing. Ronald Blythe lives at the end of an overgrown farm track deep in the rolling countryside of the Stour Valley, on the...

'Dad walked determinedly down the path, joined by two neighbours with five children between them. As we reached the corner of Kent Avenue, I looked back for one last wave. But Mum had buried her head in her pinny and it was a year before I saw her again.' In June 1940, 10-year-old Pam Hobbs and...

On Riddleston Road each house reaches three storeys high, with smart gabled roofs and neat garden paths unfurling from pastel coloured front doors. Wide, sash windows stare outwards from the brick facades, revealing a glimpse of beautiful interiors. And concealing dark secrets. Today a new...

The Despensers were a baronial English family who rose to great prominence in the reign of Edward II (1307-27) when Hugh Despenser the Younger became the king's chamberlain, favorite, and perhaps, lover. He and his father Hugh the Elder wielded great influence, and Hugh the Younger's greed and tyranny brought down a king for the first time in English history and almost destroyed his own family. The Rise and Fall of a Medieval Family tells the story of the ups and downs of this fascinating family from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries.

‘A cosy, festive, beautiful and gorgeous story that will wrap around your heart and squeeze it tight in the best way … highly recommend!’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Fabulous Christmas romance! It’s one of those heartwarming Christmas romances which you want to read curled up by the...

A wickedly funny coming-of-age novel about a misfit teenager in London determined to eliminate the one thing standing between her and a good life: her father “Hands down the funniest, most original novel I’ve read in ages.”—Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding I...

An exquisitely crafted memoir, sweeping from Zimbabwe to Oxford, that lays bare the violent, enduring legacy of colonialism on both a country and a family Simukai Chigudu grew up in the shadow of Africa’s struggles for liberation. As he navigates the tangled threads of personal and political...

Mike Gayle: emotions you'll never forget, stories you'll want to share. Helen and Ben parted as heartbroken 18-year-olds and went their very separate ways. Twenty years later, mother-of-two-teenagers Helen is still in Manchester, a part-time primary teacher, stunned by the behaviour of her...

The Lucky Ones is a profound evocation of family and the magnetic bonds that can attract or repel. The five people whose lives converge here are also haunted by family: the longing for love, the struggle to connect. Here, a young pregnant mother wrestles with an utterly changed life; a new...

A lavish summer party at an English country estate and conflict between social classes lead to deadly consequences that won’t stay buried in this twisty, engrossing suspense novel by the author of The Midnight Hour. Even the darkest secrets unravel in time . . . 2024: Thirty-year-old Jo...

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was considered to be the biggest threat to the British hegemony.He was prosecuted thrice for sedition.Was termed ‘the father of Indian unrest.’He was convicted for his fiery writings in his nationalist daily Kesari.Tilak, the first definitive biography of the man who...

An electrifying first novel from “a fresh new voice in fiction” (Emma Cline), the story of two women circling one another—working side-by-side, sleeping with the same man, inching toward friendship—until an unplanned pregnancy reveals the true nature of their connection. Jules has been...

Mr. Darcy got his happily ever after in Pride and Prejudice, and now it’s his sister’s turn in this swoony queer romance, perfect for fans of Bridgerton. Georgiana Darcy has only ever kissed one girl before, and the resulting blackmail almost ruined her reputation. Since then, she’s...

What really happened when Queen Elizabeth II met Marilyn Monroe? This stunning historical novel imagines the summer that bonded the world's two most famous women, both thirty years old and chafing against the façade of global celebrity. On a cool early-autumn evening in 1956, a glittering array...

'Dark, insidious, unsettling, fabulous.' Sharon Bolton We thought we were building paradise. We didn't know we were building it on graves. The Starlings is everything you could want - luxury homes, ocean views, security gates. The Gold Family transformed a derelict building into Dorset's most...

Best friends Lily and Inga do everything together—they even meet their future loves at the same bar. After one serendipitous night, it seems like it’s going to be Lily and Alex and Inga and Matt forever. But life gets more complicated. A job offer moves Inga and Matt from Norwich to London. Lily, who craves stability after a traumatic childhood, is already struggling with the change when Inga confides in her a secret that could tear the group apart for good. At the same time, Lily’s friendship with Matt deepens, and she wonders if she was always meant to be with him instead of Alex.

'Captivating, emotional and unputdownable! Isabel Ashdown's writing is literally mesmerizing' Reader review 'Kept me guessing until the end' Reader review A Plane Crashes. A Family Shatters. The Lies Multiply. One summer morning, a private plane crashes onto the Gale family's hilltop campsite...

In Regency England the eldest son usually inherited almost everything—while his younger brothers, left with little inheritance, had to make a crucial decision: What should they do to make an independent living? Historian Rory Muir weaves together the stories of many obscure and well-known young men of good family but small fortune, shedding light on an overlooked aspect of Regency society. This is the first scholarly yet accessible exploration of the lifestyle and prospects of these younger sons.